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People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

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21–30 of 131 posts

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#21
post #5

Reminds me, there was a nightclub in Newcastle-upon-Tyne way back in the 1980s which had a telephone on each table. If you fancied someone on another table you'd dial their table phone and strike up a chat. Can't remember the name of the club but it was on Market Street somewhere. Good times!

The club in Newcastle was Tuxedo Junction.

there was a short-lived clone of same in Las Vegas in the early/mid 1980s as well.

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#22
post #2

For RPGers, this is one of the many elements from that time that show up in "Berlin: The Wicked City" for Call of Cthulhu. It doesn't get the attention that it deserves as a module and setting. Weimar Berlin is practically mythos-tastic in and of itself.

> It doesn't get the attention that it deserves as a module and setting. Weimar Berlin is practically mythos-tastic in and of itself.

I suspect weimar berlin is just pretty difficult setting to utilize; in particular you would be trying to draw inspiration from and evoke art/media of the time, which in this case would be stuff like German expressionist cinema and modernist literature which do not have exactly mass-market appral, compared to e.g. victorian era works.

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#23
post #5

Reminds me, there was a nightclub in Newcastle-upon-Tyne way back in the 1980s which had a telephone on each table. If you fancied someone on another table you'd dial their table phone and strike up a chat. Can't remember the name of the club but it was on Market Street somewhere. Good times!

Now you have Digital, in the same complex that houses a biotech research lab (the Life Sciences Centre, formerly the Centre for Life)

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#24
post #14
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i can imagine why people aren’t so enthusiastic about role playing early 20th century germans

Germany, up until the rise of the Nazis, was a popular destination for Eastern Jews fleeing pogroms, a centre of sexuality research, cutting-edge culture for music and film. We should do a better job of remembering that, because the reason none of that survives is "the Nazis murdered everyone". Particularly given the direct adoption of Nazi-era phraseology in modern political movements.

Every other day I hear a reactionary takes on behaviors that would have been called "sexual bolshevism" at the time. Scary times.

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#25
post #19
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany, up until the rise of the Nazis, was a popular destination for Eastern Jews fleeing pogroms, a centre of sexuality research, cutting-edge culture for music and film. We should do a better job of remembering that, because the reason none of that survives is "the Nazis murdered everyone". Particularly given the direct adoption of Nazi-era phraseology in modern political movements.

[flagged]

What point are you making here exactly?

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#26
This is a titillating combination of remote (don’t know the person) and in-person (you can see them right there across the room. Something that’s impossible to recreate with Tender, etc.

There are two fatal flaws to the system that’s described in the article and the more recent examples mentioned the comments, though: (1) first call takes all, you wouldn’t know how many people would be interested in you; and (2) denial of date, where your first caller can keep you on the call indefinitely, ruining your chances with others.

And what if you receive no calls in a reasonable amount of time, e.g., 10 minutes? In a modern implementation one of these call-less people can be chosen at random and displayed on a big screen, to increase their chances.

I would totally go to a club like this, both the 20s Charleston version or a 80s version.

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#27
post #2

For RPGers, this is one of the many elements from that time that show up in "Berlin: The Wicked City" for Call of Cthulhu. It doesn't get the attention that it deserves as a module and setting. Weimar Berlin is practically mythos-tastic in and of itself.

RPG setting books can be a ton of fun even if you're not into roleplaying per se. I picked up one of the AD&D Lankhmar books as a kid, and while I love Fritz Leiber, reading those books can immerse you in a richly detailed world in a way that Leiber's original work doesn't quite do.

That probably applies even more to Lovecraft, who's one of my favorite writers, but I know plenty of people who don't like his writing but are really into Call of Cthulhu and other Mythos stuff.

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#28
post #19
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany, up until the rise of the Nazis, was a popular destination for Eastern Jews fleeing pogroms, a centre of sexuality research, cutting-edge culture for music and film. We should do a better job of remembering that, because the reason none of that survives is "the Nazis murdered everyone". Particularly given the direct adoption of Nazi-era phraseology in modern political movements.

[flagged]

"The Holocaust was good because gays, homosexuals, and jazz shouldn't exist" is a very Nazi take.

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#29
post #19
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany, up until the rise of the Nazis, was a popular destination for Eastern Jews fleeing pogroms, a centre of sexuality research, cutting-edge culture for music and film. We should do a better job of remembering that, because the reason none of that survives is "the Nazis murdered everyone". Particularly given the direct adoption of Nazi-era phraseology in modern political movements.

[flagged]

I can’t reply to the post below yours for some reason so I’ll hijack here…

In 1923 at the height of hyperinflation the price of a loaf of bread was 100 billion marks, compared to 1 mark just 4 years prior.

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#30
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany, up until the rise of the Nazis, was a popular destination for Eastern Jews fleeing pogroms, a centre of sexuality research, cutting-edge culture for music and film. We should do a better job of remembering that, because the reason none of that survives is "the Nazis murdered everyone". Particularly given the direct adoption of Nazi-era phraseology in modern political movements.

Every other day I hear a reactionary takes on behaviors that would have been called "sexual bolshevism" at the time. Scary times.

Are you using the term Bolshevism in a positive sense, seriously?
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